Afrobeat artist Seun Kuti has made a daring statement regarding the Egypt 80 band, which he inherited from his late father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the pioneer of Afrobeat.
In a recent interview with City 105.1 FM, Kuti boasted about his significant social standing as the band’s vocalist and asserted that Egypt 80 is the most successful band in Africa.
He claimed that he can’t be intimidated by culture, therefore he openly expresses his thoughts without fear. He also claimed that his music was already being ignored by the media and the African award organisers.
Kuti said,
“I won’t stop speaking my mind because I’m no longer afraid of anything you’re going to do. What are you going to do? You’re not going to play my videos? Are you not already doing this? So what are you going to do?
“Even when I got nominated for the Grammys, no award organization in the whole of Africa nominated my band in any category, knowing fully well that no matter what anybody says about me, I, Seun, am the frontman for Africa’s most successful band. 54 albums. By the time I drop my next album, it will be 55 albums.
“The band that I lead is an African musical institution. If we knew what we were doing in Africa, it would go without saying that this band should be given some kind of national recognition to keep them in the forefront of the psyche of African people all over the world, to know that Africans can achieve institutions like this. But well, that is for an African who knows what he’s doing.”
